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Coin Collecting - 50 State Quarters Program by Michael Russell
There was a time in our nation's history when kids and adults alike could hope to find old coins mixed in with their pocket change. You could find Indian Head Pennies, Buffalo Nickels or coins that contained silver. Today the best you can hope for is an occasional Wheat penny, unless you are one of the many people who collect State Quarters.
Prior to 1999 coin collecting as a hobby had lost a lot of its popularity and some would argue that it was on the decline. In January 1999 the first quarter of the 50 State Quarter Program was issued and suddenly, America was in love with coin collecting again. Once again kids and adults were checking their pocket change for the newest state quarter.
The program was kicked off with the issuing of the Delaware quarter January 1999 and is scheduled to end when the Hawaii quarter is issued October 2008. The schedule calls for five quarters a year, which works out to one new state coin being issued approximately every 10 weeks. It is the relative short time between the issuing of each state coin that is partially responsible for this programs popularity. The program may be extending beyond 2008 so that quarters with designs honoring the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Territories of Guam, the Northern Marianas, American Samoa and the Virgin Islands can be issued.
The popular U.S. program is based on an equally popular program that the Royal Canadian Mint carried out in 1992 to celebrate Canada's 125th anniversary of its confederation. Canada issued one coin a month that year to commemorate each of 10 provinces and 2 territories. Today it would have to be a 13-month program because Canada now has 3 territories - Nunavut became a territory in 1999.
Before the 50 State Quarter Program was decided on, other suggestions based on the Canada 125 Program made the rounds of the numismatic world. One suggestion was to issue special half dollars to commemorate each state. Though the coins would be legal tender, it was reasoned that they would cause little disruption because people aren't used to seeing or spending half dollars. They would become a collector's item and introduce the hobby of coin collecting to a new generation.
The U.S. Mint actually makes money each time it strikes a coin. When the State Quarter Program was started in 1999 it cost the Mint 3 cents a coin to produce. The 3 cents included production costs and the cost of the metal used in the coin. The demand for the new Washington quarter exceeded previous production runs. The output of 1998 quarters, the last year of the standard quarter, was a little more than 1.7 billion. The new state quarter launched in 1999 had a production run of more than 4.4 billion. In the year 2000 the production was raided to 6.5 billion. A profit of 22 cents a coin can add up significantly when multiplied by 6.5 billion.
Once people started checking their change for "state quarters" they started to think about the possibilities of coin collecting. The coin market has experienced a revival among hobbyists. Collecting date-and-mint sets is once again popular, as well as collecting investment coins and of course, collecting the 50 State Quarters.
Michael Russell
About the Author
Your Independent guide to Coin Collecting (http://coin-collecting-guided.com/)
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